Thursday, September 27, 2012

iExamen - Chris Stokes

Throughout
my life I have gone day to day without paying attention to how I interact with
others or how much I use technology.The
iExamen project, which I chose to do this past Sunday, has really opened my
eyes to these aspects of my life. Because of this project, I am now able to see
how just how much of a role technology plays in my life and how if I can cut
myself off from electronic communication, even for an hour, it will change my
day for the better.

When
I woke up on Sunday, the first person that I saw was my roommate, Phil. He had
been up for a little while and was actually waiting for me to get up so we
could get something to eat. We immediately started talking.The conversation, like all of my
conversations with Phil, was very natural. It was not hard to talk to him at
all and even though I do not remember exactly what we talked about, I remember
not having to think of what I was going to say; I jut said it. Then, we left
for lunch. I passed a few people I knew on the walk to Boulder and, inspired by
the project, I stopped and talked with two of them. Because I am not close to
these people like I am with my roommate, the conversation was definitely more
forced. They were, however, very successful because it allowed me to observe the
way I talk to people I am not that close with and look at the way they talk to
me. In both conversations, I felt most comfortable keeping eye contact. I
actually kept eye contact the entire time, except for when I would focus on
body language. Everyone I spoke to all day used hand gestures. Although some
people used them way more than others, no one kept their hands at their side
for a whole conversation.

Another
thing that I paid attention to on Sunday was my conversations via text. These
conversations were very brief and not personal at all. An example of this would
be when I texted my friend Matt to see if he wanted to grab lunch with Phil and
me. My first text to him, rather than saying hello or asking him how he was
doing was “u wanna get lunch?” I did not realize how impersonal texting can be
and how little effort people, including myself, put into having a conversation
with someone electronically.

Then,
at four o’clock, I set aside my phone and cut myself off from all electronic
conversations. This was a lot more difficult than I had anticipated. It was
also very nice. In this hour, I absolutely felt like I was more alert. In fact,
I was actually able to see how many people were in their own world while trying
to text or check their emails while walking to class. Being that I was not
distracted by texts, I also felt that my conversations with people during this
hour were better. Once the hour was up, I had a few texts that I had to respond
to, but after I responded I wanted to put my phone away for as long as
possible. I now realize that while technology is a good thing, it can separate
us way too much from the people around us. This observation was very interesting
to see and I definitely would like to limit my use of electronic communication
in the future.